Features of British Culture

Over the course of these three weeks, not only did I observe English landscape, architecture, art, and literature, but I had the opportunity to closely examine and learn about British culture as well, and several strong features of this culture have influenced the way I respond to the country and people around me.

Privacy - There is some truth to the reputation that Americans have for being loud, and the reverse could be said as well - the English are rather quiet, especially in public places. Conversations are confined to the people they pertain to, stalls in toilets reach almost to the floor with no gap between the walls, and as Lisa mentioned, contact on public transportation is restrained, and when it must occur, it is quickly glossed over and then vanishes into the dim haze of courtesy.

Space - England is much smaller than America, and also much older. Many buildings are older than fire codes or specifications for the disabled. Hallways and rooms are often in odd shapes to allow for the maximum usage of what space there is. For example, to get to the Backpacker's in Oxford, we had to first climb up the steep stairs to the third story (American). No lifts were available at all. In London, our hotel made excellent use of floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the entryway to give the illusion of a much larger space. I think that it's because of having less space that English people are more tolerant of squeezing together on the tube and in buses. This space issue also translates into how the English value distance - many of them don't drive because they simply don't need to. Whatever city you might find yourself in, you're in walking distance of most necessary shops.

Flowers - I haven't really drawn any conclusions about the flowers that I've seen, but I took a lot of pictures.

Lisa Zamecnik

The tube or underground is a very interesting way to travel around London. The landscape is very different from the streets above it. To get to and from the trains you have to pass through areas where you can either buy a ticket or swipe your card to get through to where the trains are located. At some stations you have to walk down stairways or use an escalator or lift if available. If you are lucky enough to use an escalator you have to stand to the right so other people can get by. At other stations you may have to walk through a series of tunnels that occasionally have someone playing an instrument and/or singing hoping some of the people passing by will put money in their case.
If you are changing from one train line to another you have to consult your tube map to see where the stations are located to be able to do this. Sometimes you have to walk quite a distance underground and change levels to get to another train line. This can be tricky at first, but once you get used to how the trains run and if you can read map it is not so bad.

The landscape underground is a series of tunnels to get here and there. Everything, of course, has to be lit. The lighting is very good, but you are reminded of where you are when you peer into a grate in the wall into utter blackness. As you pass these grates you can sometimes feel cool air coming from them. The temperature does fluctuate quite a bit from cold to hot as you are walking to the train. The temperature on the train also can fluctuate from comfortable to unbearably hot especially during rush hour when the trains are full.
Potential passengers always seem to be in a such hurry to reach the trains no matter what time of day it happens to be. During rush hour this is even worse and the passengers are packed into the train cars as tightly as humanly possible. Those that are not lucky enough to get a seat have to stand and hang onto hand rails. The passengers on the trains do not interact with other passengers unless they have to ask them to move so that they can get out. Passengers do not look at each other as they are either reading newspapers, books, playing games on their phones, or listening to music.

Some of the things you hear while on the train are the rustling of newspapers as readers turn the pages and sometimes you will hear passengers talking, but that is usually because they know each other and came on together. You can hear the clacking of the tracks as they pass underneath and the squeal and screech of the wheels as the train is switching tracks. This is so loud that some passengers actually cover their ears with their hands!